Happy Pride Month! 
Pride often gets a bad rap in religious spaces, yet being proud of our gender identity, sexual orientation, and ethnicity can help us connect deeper with ourselves, others, and God. Check out this video where Pastor Paul helps us reflect on the importance of being proud of who God created us to be.

We are excited to celebrate the move of the Spirit and God’s image in the LGBTQIA+ community with our series Building a Church Without Walls! Join us as we explore how to live deeper into the gospel’s bold vision of inclusion and love. You can join us online or in person. RSVP for in-person HERE

Kindred in Christ,

This past week, as I sat in the grief of another mass shooting, this time in Robb Elementary in Uvalde, TX, I once again saw a similar argument on my social media feed. As people mourned the violent massacre that took the lives of 19 Latinx children and two teachers, I saw some people offer their “thoughts and prayers,” and others insist that prayers are not what is needed, rather we need (they insisted) immediate changes to our policies.

Sadly, prayer in our culture often becomes the end of action, rather than just the beginning. Prayer, as people point out, becomes as a way of feeling like we did something about pain in the world, rather than actually doing something that helps bring change. But what if prayer was meant to be so much more?

I actually find this popular form of prayer not only a disservice to those who are most hurt in our world, but a disservice to the real intent of prayer. For prayer is supposed to open us up to a God that will ask us to take action (through voting, organizing, and acts of compassion) and live in a way that helps our prayers for justice to become a reality in our communities.

I am reminded of the words of Oswald Chambers, “To say that ‘prayer changes things’ is not as close to the truth as saying, ‘prayer changes me and then I change things.” May we open ourselves up to the God who is with us in the heartache of this world and is transforming us into agents of God’s love in action.

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz

Kindred in Christ,

After missing a couple of weeks due to being sick, and then recovering just in time for my week-long family vacation in Hawaii (see some photos above), I am excited to be back with you and preaching this Sunday! A big thank you to all who stepped in and stepped up while I was away. I am thankful in particular to Rev. Judy Schultz, Leo Pacheco, Chris Vincent, Graham Whitehouse, and Dave Campbell for helping our worship services continue in meaningful ways.

This Sunday we will reflect on the transitional spaces that we often find ourselves in, especially during this pandemic, between grief and joy, between losing the things that used to ground us and embracing the new thing that God is bringing about in our lives. By considering Mary Madelene’s encounter with the resurrected Christ (John 20:11-18), we will explore the importance of mourning the past while welcoming the future—a pattern central to the disciple’s encounter with the resurrected Christ. I hope you will join us as we continue in our series Made New.

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz

Kindred in Christ,

I feel as though I have come back to life. I am beyond grateful for this community that has been supportive, generous, and understanding as my wife, Kim, and myself have been out of commission for the last couple weeks after contracting Covid. Thankfully, at this point, we have both tested negative and are regaining strength. In the midst of taking it easy, I have been very excited for a collaboration that is emerging with University Gathering UMC and Michelle Lang-Raymond and Sam Townsend from Acts on Stage (pictured meeting with our worship team above).

After a fruitful conversation with Rev. Dr. Leroy Barber on Church Innovation in March during Enrichment Hour, Leroy connected me with Michelle to begin exploring what a collaboration around worship and change would look like in our setting. One of the things Leroy heard that arose from the conversation in our Enrichment Hour session was the need to expand worship to include new elements to better match the time and context we live in and the folks we are presently trying to reach—a struggle for many mainline protestant churches.

Thus, we have been dreaming and planning with Michelle and Sam about ways that they could help us begin to infuse new elements into our Sunday morning worship gatherings. While Acts on Stage has worked and coached other UMC congregations seeking renewal in worship before, this will be the most elaborate partnership they have ever had. In fact, our vision is to record segments of the worship sessions, interview participants and congregants, and create a video resource for our conference and any church seeking renewal. Indeed, other local churches in our conference already look to us as an example for church renewal in the urban setting, because of the moves we have made with our building renovation, updating our name, and our vision to reach and include more diverse people. We view this collaboration with Acts on Stage not only as bringing innovation to our single congregation, but as a process that could be adapted and hosted by other churches.

The worship partnership will kick off during the four weeks of June. Throughout each Sunday morning in June, you can expect to see some of the Acts on Stage folks alongside our worship team working to mix new ingredients into our familiar worship experience. We are still working on promotional materials and an official description for social media, newsletter, and other outlets. We will share more info here and in other spaces, including what our partnership will look life after the four weeks. I am very excited for this collaboration and move of the Spirit! I hope you will join us during the weeks in June and into the future we are collectively being empowered into.

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz